Family Day in Boston to Celebrate My Mom's Birthday!

A couple weekends ago, it was my mom's birthday, and my family decided to celebrate by going into Boston for the day! I always love when I get the opportunity to go into the city and get a little break from the suburbs. After my mom opened her presents and we had some lunch at home, we headed into the city!

We had planned to get dinner in the North End, which is the Italian part of the city, but had decided to just see where the day took us before that. The great thing about Boston is that it's a very walkable city, so we could easily walk anywhere we decided to go. We parked in Chinatown and then walked through Boston Common and the Public Garden. The Public Garden is so pretty in the summer because it's so green! After stopping to get a few pictures with the birthday girl, we kept walking until we got to Newbury Street. My dad was feeling pretty tired and a little faint, so he and my sister Lexi decided to sit in Starbucks for a little bit while my mom and I went to Marshall's across the street for some shopping. While we were there, my sister texted us saying my dad had passed out in Starbucks and the employees had taken him into the back to lie down! She even said one of the employees was holding a straw for him while he drank some lemonade! My mom and I actually believed her and were laughing hysterically in the store from the visual of a Starbucks employee holding a straw for my dad while he laid on the floor complaining haha! Eventually Lexi called though and said it was all a joke that they decided to play on us since they were bored sitting in Starbucks!

with my mom in the Boston Public Garden

After that, it was around 6pm, so we decided to start walking toward the North End which was about a half hour walk away. We walked through Faneuil Hall and past a bunch of Irish pubs before we came to the North End, my favourite part of Boston! We had heard of a restaurant from a few different people called Trattoria Il Panino that we wanted to try. Amazingly, we only had to wait for about 15 minutes before we got a table! The restaurant doesn't take reservations and it was a Saturday night, so that was impressively fast! We think the host favoured us since he knew it was my mom's birthday, because we ended up getting seated before a few groups who had been there before us. We got such a perfect table too! It was in their little terrace area right next to the sidewalk, so it was perfect for people watching! We heard some musicians who were playing an accordian and violin outside, which was really cool! To celebrate my mom's birthday, we got a bottle of wine for the table which we thoroughly enjoyed! And the food was so amazing! I got lasagna with beef in it, my dad and sister both got chicken parmesan, and my mom got a pasta with pesto, cheese, and vegetables. The sauce on my lasagna was amazing, and I tried some chicken parm and pesto pasta too which were also so so good! I have had meals in so many different North End restaurants over the years and have always been amazed by how good the food is in each place!

the North End

This is the restaurant we went to. It was amazing!

my lasagna and wine

my mom with her pasta

the chicken parmesan that both my dad and sister ordered

another shot of my lasagna. It was sooo good!!

After dinner, we decided to walk around the North End a little bit to digest our food before hitting our favourite dessert place: Modern Pastry! Mike's Pastry has the reputation of being the more famous pastry shop, but we have always preferred Modern. When we got there, there were no tables available, but a server told us about a room downstairs that was relatively new and not many people knew about yet. There were a bunch more tables and only one other group down there, so it was the perfect atmosphere to enjoy our desserts! It looked like a cute rustic Italian cafe down there too! I got a chocolate covered cheesecake, Lexi got carrot cake, my dad got a cream puff, and my mom got a cannoli and a cappucino. As always, the food was amazing!

all of our delicious desserts

my chocolate cheesecake. It was delicious!

After enjoying our desserts from Modern, we started to make our way back toward Chinatown where the car was. We went into a couple North End shops and walked through Faneuil Hall again before arriving back at the car. I had an amazing day in Boston with my family, and I know my mom had a great birthday! I always have a great time in the city and will hopefully be going back into Boston again soon!

with my mom and sister at the end of the awesome day!